Why should students subscribe to this course? Because documentaries demonstrate that "reality" can be as interesting as fiction, or sometimes even "crazier". Because what we call "documentary" is a plural universe, made of so many different kinds of facets and hybrid "modes". And because, nowadays, technology made cameras and video equipment much cheaper and accessible.

Fiction is quite expensive to do, but documentary making is affordable to many people. Because documentary making is a way to comprehend the historic world in a deeper way. Because producing documentaries is a way to meet incredible people, or to discover fantastic places. And finally, because by making documentaries, you learn how to look at the material world, people, society, the environment, landscapes, animals in a more attentive and, at the same time, assertive way.

The course aims at providing to the students an overall theoretical and practical glance over documentary making, with the aim of allowing students to produce a home-made short documentary about their home (the house itself; pets; relatives of yours or people sharing the place with you; yourself as the main subject). And it's composed of five classes:

Class number 1: Basic theory and practical tips. Direct and indirect methods.

Class number 2: About representation. Mise-en-scène and self-mise-en-scène in documentaries. An encounter among the documentary maker and social characters. Ethics in documentary making.

Class number 3: Deepening the indirect method: writing a script to guide the production of your documentary.

Class number 4: The shooting of your doc: how to produce your footage.

Class number 5: Editing the documentary: choosing among various possibilities and giving a final shape to the footage.

In this course, the first-class lasts approximately 25 minutes.

The main topics are:

• Brief introduction of the teacher
• What is a documentary?
• Documentary vs fiction; documentary vs experimental
• Documentary modes and nuances
• Hybrid docs
• Making a documentary about your home (the main subject/s is/are): 1. the house itself or part of it; 2. your pet(s); 3. your relatives/girl(boy)friend/friends (who's living with you); 4. yourself
• What aspects should I consider when I'm making a documentary?
• The importance of telling a story
• Two different approaches: 1. direct (beginning with images, by picking up the camera and start shooting around); 2. indirect (beginning with a script or project)
• What should a script include?
• Final considerations

Who should take this course?

The target audience includes beginners, people with some practice in this field, university students and scholars, cinephiles, and also that curious guy who's staying at home due to quarantine (because of COVID-19) and is interested in documentaries.